Misery Loves Company
by AlwaysTheTruth
Summary: Five years following the death of his wife, Tomoya Okazaki struggles with crippling depression and alcoholism as he treads through life aimlessly. With Ushio starting school, however, Tomoya resolves to break himself of these habits, with the help of an old friend, and be the father he promised Nagisa he would be.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! You may remember me from my Ryou and Youhei fanfic, well guess what? I'm back, and more than excited to present to you all my newest fanfiction, this time focusing on Tomoya and Kyou! I've been outlining my plans for this one since Summer Vacation started all the way back in early June, and I can only hope you all love this first chapter as much as I loved writing this! I personally think this is my best piece of writing yet, and can't wait to get some feedback! Please tell me if I made any grammatical errors, and give thoughts on the story so far! The story will focus more on Tomoya and Kyou, along with dealing with loss and reconnecting with family, than other story elements, so the plot should (eventually) diverge quite a bit from the anime. Well, bon appetit!

REVISED - 10/14/2018

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Tomoya drained the last bottle of beer into the sink, already feeling buzzed, and sat down in a chair, feeling as useless as always. He picked himself up after a brief moment of thought and made his way to his bed. On his way, he saw that the next date unmarked on the calendar read April 7, 2011- Ushio starts school tomorrow.

He sighed to himself as he kicked himself for wanting to get drunk. Luckily he stopped at a buzz, so a hangover is unlikely, but either way, it just reminded him of how disconnected he'd been from Ushio's life. He took the remaining steps to his bed and tucked himself in. He stared at the ceiling and despite hopes the beer would quell it, tears still fell from his eyes. He closed his eyes and saw what he wanted, what he was cheated out of, in his head.

Him, Nagisa, and Ushio walked down merrily towards the school. A spring was felt in all their steps as they conversed.

"You remembered to grab the lunch I packed for you, right dear?"

Ushio smiled happily, "Don't worry Mommy, I did! What did you make?"

Nagisa held a hand up, stopping for a moment to lean down at her daughter, "That's a seeecreeet." She looked up and winked at Tomoya, and they both shared a giggle between each other.

Ushio, on the other hand, clearly wasn't as amused, "Aww, no fair! Tell me, Daddy! Pleeeease?"

"Mother knows best, Ushio."

Ushio sighed to herself but quickly returned to her bubbly form. They walked together until they reached the school, at which point Ushio gave her parents a tearful goodbye, and entered the school.

"So..." Tomoya began nervously, "how do you think she'll do?"

Nagisa smiled confidently, "She'll do great, Tomoya." She leaned over and gave her husband a kiss. "Because we raised her."

The tears never stopped.

Sure, they hadn't shown themselves in a while- the last time he'd cried was on Ushio's first birthday- but the depression that had crippled the last five years of his life stabbed through him everytime he didn't have a buzz going. But every once in a while, on special occasions, he could be shitfaced and still feel as sad as he does tonight. There were times he'd regretted ever having Ushio, and there were times he'd regretted ever meeting Nagisa, but he never let these thoughts consume him. Even if it took all the will he had, he swore on her grave that he'd be ready to be a father in time for Ushio's school life. He didn't know if he was ready, but at the very least he'd show up for this. He decides to grab some music from the Crap From Youhei box and put it on to distract his mind, and after about half an hour of the popular J-Rock of six years ago, he fell asleep.

He woke up to the wonderful tunes of his alarm for the first time in months. Even in high school, he'd just ignore it, but the last thing he was going to do was screw this up for his child. He rolled around in bed for a moment before finding the resolve to pick himself up, and he dressed at the very least casually. He went outside and jogged down the street. He never really paid mind to the environment, typically just holding his head down all the way to work, and was surprised to find that the seasons had changed. It turns out that yes, it is Spring, as snow is nowhere to be found. These thoughts carry him all the way to the Furukawa Bakery, where Ushio and her grandparents resided peacefully. He stood there for a minute, and to him, it seemed to last forever before he finally found the courage to knock on the door.

"Uh, hello. Anybody home?" Of course, there were, and Akio Furukawa dropped his cigarette the moment he saw Tomoya outside.

"Tomoya... I guess you couldn't miss this, could you?"

Tomoya shook his head, "Not for the world, sir. It's what Nagisa would've wanted."

Akio sighed and held his head down for a moment, eyes closed, before smiling at Tomoya. "The door's unlocked, so hurry on in. There's a new student who could use some encouragement." Tomoya accepted his invitation and entered, almost walking past Akio before he was grabbed by the shoulder, "And Tomoya, you know you don't need to call me sir. We're family, no matter what. Call me Akio."

Tomoya turned to Akio, a slight look of reassurance on his face, "...Thank you, Akio." He brushed off Akio's shoulder and went to greet Ushio.

"Oh, and Sanae's still asleep!" Akio called out, "So you'll be all alone, good luck!"

Tomoya couldn't help but chuckle at his father and law. Somehow, losing his daughter seemed to ignite a spark inside Akio, as Tomoya saw him running more kid's baseball tournaments than ever, as well as often assisting Sanae for her cooking and becoming a respected figure of the town. Akio never says it out loud, but Tomoya knows Akio does it to make Nagisa proud, and he knows that she is more than proud.

Tomoya knocks gently on Ushio's door.

"Come in..."

He opens the door, and Ushio's face shows clear surprise, "..Daddy?"

He gets on one knee and looks directly at her, "How are you Ushio?"

She fidgets with her fingers, slight embarrassment on her face as she looks at her hands, "Um, good.. sorry, I didn't think you'd..."

Seeing as Ushio was already fully dressed and ready to go, Tomoya held out his arms towards her, "I wasn't really expecting to either, but.. you're still my daughter, and I'm still proud of you."

Ushio smiles softly at her dad, "Thank you." she walks up to him and accepts his embrace, "I'm happy you came... so I'll do my best."

Tomoya pulled away, smiling back at her with a mix of pride and hesitation, "Promise?"

Ushio could only nod in response.

Tomoya turned the locked pinkies into locked hands, "Well, are you ready?"

Ushio nodded again, though more enthusiastically than before, "..Yeah!"

Tomoya ran his hand through her hair, giving his best words of encouragement, "You'll make a lot of friends, I'm sure of it."

They made their way out of the door, Ushio trailing behind her rarely seen dad. Akio smiled approvingly as his son in law and granddaughter left the Bakery.

The two walked there way down the streets of Hikarizaka, taking full appreciation of the beautiful sights that bestowed them. It was a leisurely walk, and they arrived with about 10 minutes to spare.

"You have everything, right Ushio?"

"..Sanae made me a lunch, so I'll be alright."

"That's good... now go have fun, alright?"

Ushio smiled softly as she walked to school.

Tomoya waved back at her, and walked home to change for work.

Tomoya ran his way to work, needing a moment to catch his breath having arrived just on time. He enters and is greeted by Yusuke.

"Tomoya, mind stepping back outside? The boss wants to talk to you."

Tomoya shook his head, "Not at all."

They went outside and around the building, standing to the side against the wall. The old man hadn't arrived yet, so they had some time to themselves.

Yusuke started, "...Kouko told me your daughter started today."

Tomoya appeared a little surprised, "She did?"

"Yeah, apparently she wanted me to excuse you if you were late today," he chuckled, "and yet, here you are."

"Well, I can't let you guys down. You've all done a lot for me these past few years... only friends I really have left."

Yusuke shook his head, "Not as much as you make it out to be. The only leave you ever took was on your daughter's first birthday, and every other day you've been the hardest worker here... which is why," Yusuke tilts his head towards their boss, who's approaching with a smile, "he wants to speak to you so badly."

The kind-hearted old man let out a hearty chuckle as he approached the two of them, "Giving another gaudy entrance now, are you?"

Yusuke smiled back, "There's nothing gaudy about cold hard truth."

The three of them shared a short laugh. Not much, but enough to break the growing tension of the moment.

Tomoya turned to his boss, a small smile still showing, "You wanted to speak to me?"

He cleared his throat, "Tomoya.. when you first walked into this building five years ago. I saw a naive young man, one who had yet to face the hardships of his coworkers.. and I saw someone with sky-high potential." He held a warm smile as he continued, "Now I look at you, and I see someone who, despite everything he's been through, is wise beyond his years. The potential I saw in him back then couldn't measure to the man he is today."

Tomoya felt a thumping in his chest? "T-Thank you, sir."

"..I also remember five years ago, another company missed on all that potential because of a crime his father was involved in, and he's been stuck in his position ever since... don't you think it's about time we rectify that mistake?"

Tomoya's face showed clear surprise, "What do you mean?"

His boss sighed, clearing his throat before continuing, "I'm getting too old for all of this. My wife passed last year, my kids at least need to be able to see their father as much as they can. I already gave up the latter half of my day to Tetsuya a few years ago, but starting next week, you'll be the day manager."

Tomoya's surprise quickly became shock, "Day manager!?"

Yusuke smiled, "Yep, the old man's retiring after spending all these years with us... and all of us think there's no one who's earned it more."

"Man..." Tomoya couldn't tear up these days, but an emotional smile shone on his face regardless, "thank you, really."

The old man chuckled, "No problem. You earned this by being a model employee, Tomoya, and with your new hours, I think you can be more of a model dad, too."

Yusuke handed Tomoya a sheet with his daily hours- 8:30-5:30 weekdays, with an hour-long lunch from 12:00 to 1:00. 6:00-3:00 Saturday, with an hour lunch at the same time, and Sunday off.

"These are ridiculously low hours, I'd feel bad."

He chuckled in response, "Don't. This is technically as long as you should already be working anyways, not including overtime. Obviously, I've taken a much heavier schedule over the years, which is why I'm dividing the work before I leave, but when you've been a manager for as long as I have, it feels like nothing. So consider it a gift, from me to you..." he sighs, "what happened with Nagisa was.. a tragedy. The fact that you've worked as hard as ever says a lot about your character, and your daughter needs you in her life. You'll mainly be setting your coworker's assignments for the day, so make sure you do your best, alright?"

Tomoya smiled, giving an affirmative nod, and they went back inside to work.

The hours really did fly by in the managerial position, which while he wasn't officially in place as yet, he did end up watching for the entire day, and before Tomoya knew it he was signed out for lunch, thanking Yusuke and his boss again before picking up the pace to meet his daughter at school. As a kindergartener, her day ended right around lunch shift, giving Tomoya a perfect opening to get her home and back to work all in time. He went inside the school himself, seeing no reason why not, to meet her.

When walking down, however, he was surprised to find a familiar face.

"You guys did great today! Remember, be careful when heading out of the classroom, get in a single file line, okay?"

The class of giddy children all called out, "Okay!" They quickly got in line without much complaining. The purple haired woman, on the other hand, caught Tomoya's surprised gaze and returned one of her own.

Class got out and Ushio walked up to Tomoya. He bent down and gave her a gentle hug, "So how was school, you little smartypants?"

Ushio let out a small giggle, to his surprise. She seemed fully aware of her genius, "It was really fun..." she seemed to think aloud as she spoke, "..we counted, we got to sing, we.. saw this silly pig thing, and we learned a lot."

"Like what?"

"...Counting?"

Tomoya couldn't help but laugh, and looked up upon hearing Kyou laughing along with him, "So, how's Ms. Fujibayashi?"

"..Really nice. Everyone really loves her, so I think she's the best teacher ever..." Ushio frowned somberly upon saying this.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I just feel so sad for her.. it must suck living at school."

Kyou intervened, "Don't worry, Ushio! The school actually lets me live wherever I want, so I get to have a house, and everything!"

The news delighted Ushio greatly as she turned to face Kyou, "That's.. amazing! Can I see your house sometime, please?"

"If you promise to work hard, sure!"

Ushio gave a thumbs up, "Don't worry, I promise!"

Tomoya chuckled at the exchange, "Alright Ushio, can you go play with your friends for a bit? I have to talk to your teacher for a moment."

Ushio ran off to a slightly smaller blond haired girl, and they quickly struck up a conversation.

Feeling comfortable, Tomoya turned back to Kyou, "You know, I never thought of you as the teacher type."

Kyou laughed a little, smiling as her students wandered around, "I didn't either, really. I've wanted to ever since I was little, but I thought I'd always be too noisy and annoying.. turns out people change even more after high school than they do during high school."

"Tell me about it..." Tomoya sighed, and a moment later a smirk formed on his face, "Well, as long you don't roundhouse kick any of the students, I guess it's fine."

Kyou smirked back, eyes closed, "I'd never roundhouse kick a student. However, the student's parents are open season."

Tomoya's smirk turned into a good laugh, "The good news is, you're still Kyou."

"Yep, and I wouldn't have it any other way..."

A moment of silence was held between the two of them, before Kyou finally spoke up, "Hey... I just want to say that I'm really glad you came for her. Nagisa is one of the kindest people I've ever met... I should've contacted you and given my condolences, but I was young and dumb back then, and I thought it'd be insensitive. Once I finally got those dumb thoughts out of my head, too much time had passed..."

"It's fine, really. I'm still figuring out how to be a dad... I've been badly absent in her life if I'm being honest with you. I promised Nagisa I'd change that now, but I'm scared, you know? She seems more comfortable with you than she is with me."

Kyou nodded, "That's understandable. I know it's not the same thing, but if anything happened to my sister I'd be a wreck. The fact that you're here shows that you're a good dad, and I'm sure you'll only get better. After all, I'm just some woman she met for the first time today. You're... her dad, you know?"

Tomoya smiled, and he sniffled a little, holding in tears, That's what I get for not drinking.. ha," he dried his eyes with his arm before he started to cry, "I really want to try my best for her, so I appreciate your thoughts."

Kyou thought to herself for a moment before speaking, "I would hold a starting school party for Ushio, but Ryou's studying to become a nurse right now, and Tomoyo's trying to major in environmental sciences... Youhei's not up to anything, but I'd prefer to get the whole club together for something like that."

"God, it's been forever since I've seen Youhei... he's tried contacting me a few times, but I can't bring myself to answer."

Kyou put her hands on her hips, "Hey, that's not right. Youhei may have not been my best friend, but he was yours, Tomoya. It may not be a party, but I'll get you two in touch," she held out her hand, "alright?"

Tomoya gave her a firm handshake, "Alright. Have a nice day."

"You too."

They waved each other off and Tomoya picked up Ushio, and they talked about their days all the way to the Bakery. Ushio was happy to hear about his promotion despite not really understanding what that meant, and Tomoya was even happier to hear about her new friend, Hiyumi. Eventually, they reached their destination.

After about an hour of casual conversation amongst themselves, Sanae waved Ushio in for dinner. Tomoya turned to go home, but Akio called out for him, "Hey, stay for dinner, alright?"

"Sure", Tomoya replied.

"My man!"

They are together, the four of them, as a family. Tomoya doesn't get to do it often, but he savors the times he does. It was a peaceful atmosphere, as the four discussed their daily lives, taking a celebration picture with Ushio, and overall having a good time.

When they finally finished Tomoya hugged Ushio goodbye, as Sanae went to make her dessert that would never be eaten, and Akio took a moment to talk to Tomoya.

"Hey, you know, I'm really proud of what you did today."

Tomoya smiled, "I told you I wouldn't ruin her first day... now I just need to keep my promise to Nagisa."

"Promise?"

"Well, not to her specifically, but.. my promise to her, that I was going to be ready to be Ushio's dad by the time she started school."

Akio smiled back at him, "You know Tomoya.. if you ever need advice, feel free to contact me. Dads have to stick together, right?"

"Yeah.. thank you."

They hug it out for a moment, a mutual understanding reinforced between each other, and Tomoya went home for the day.

When the high of the day wore off, the crippling thoughts returned and clouded him. He really didn't know what he was doing, and was so worried about the possibility of Ushio carrying Nagisa's illness, though he'd never admit it to himself- the thought was too much to bear. He cracked open bottle after bottle, waiting until he could hit that buzz where everything became bearable, all he had to do was drink a few more, and-

His phone buzzes.

The text reads, **Youhei. As always lol. What's up? Hope things are well.**

And for the first time since they'd exchanged numbers a few years back, Tomoya decided to send Youhei a reply.

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Well, how was it? Please give a review whether you enjoyed the chapter or not. All feedback is appreciated. Until next time, this is AlwaysTheTruth signing off.

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	2. Chapter 2

It has been too long, everybody. But FINALLY, AlwaysTheTruth is back with another chapter of this fanfic. There was so much support for the first chapter, it was inevitable I would write this second one. I don't feel like it was as good as the first chapter, but I hope you all appreciate the effort I put into making the interaction seem genuine. This was super fun to write and now I'm extremely tired, I hope the fun transfers to your reading experience.

UPDATE: Decided to remove a minor plot point, seeing how it's pretty pointless.

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"Dumb, dumb, dumb..."

Tomoya rummaged through Monday's texts with Youhei, shocked by the sentimental contexts of the hours-long conversation they'd had. Going through their memories of their high school years, of what they went through for Nagisa and the years that had passed since they last exchanged words. At the end of it, he'd arranged for them to meet this Saturday at noon, which was now today. He'd considered taking Ushio to school the rest of the week but had decided against it, deciding that it'd be better spent getting acclimated to his new job. In the meantime, Youhei had talked to him at regular increments, mostly around lunch. They hadn't held a long conversation at all, but for Tomoya, it still meant a lot to be able to vent his daily frustrations to his best friend. Tomoya had planned on the house and himself being in better shape, but after putting off cleaning things up for the entire week, he decided his Friday night would be better spent drinking alcohol. Now to be fair, he had been working hard at his new position and definitely earned a night of relaxation, but leaving the busy work for morning Tomoya wasn't his brightest decision.

"..dumb, dumb, dumb!" He repeated this over and over to himself as he collected and threw away the multitude of bottles that had slowly risen in certain sections of the house. Living on his own was a blessing when no guests were ever going to bother him, but with Youhei's arrival now minutes away, he had no one to blame but himself for his current predicament. He worked as quickly as he could, having already given up on the prospect of getting more than his hair brushed in terms of looking nice himself. Having finally collected all the bottles, he takes the final large bag out to the formerly empty recycle bin which, after putting the last bag in there, was now on the verge of overflowing.

Just as he did that, the buzzing of his phone caused him to flinch. Recomposing himself, he pulled out his phone and read the text which popped up on screen.

"Damn it Tomoya! You sent me the wrong address! Why'd you do this to me!?"

Somehow Tomoya had sent Youhei the address to his home during his teenage years, though this was a blessing in disguise. He let out a sigh of relief as his muscles relaxed, followed by a snarky chuckle.

"Well Youhei, I just didn't feel like seeing you that early after all."

It didn't take more than a couple moments for his phone to light up again, "So why not just tell me that? Are you even denser than I a? Anyways, give me the right address please."

He sent Youhei the address, and decided he may as well take a shower.

The shower passed unceremoniously, and Tomoya got himself looking at least presentable for Youhei, who was due to arrive any minute now assuming he hadn't gotten lost. Now fully dressed, Tomoya paced around his apartment floor. After all, he hadn't seen Youhei in years, and the last time they'd seen each other he was emotionally destroyed.

He recalled the day, around a year after Nagisa's death, that Youhei had unexpectedly caught him in his apartment at night, in a desperate attempt to get his friend back.

"Come on man, you know you can't stay hung up on this forever.."

These were the words that had caused him to snap, as Tomoya turned to ugly hysterics, "What would YOU know, Youhei! I watched the love of my life die in front of me, the daughter I adore more than anything serves only as a constant reminder of my failure. You think I want to stay like this? Are you an idiot? Get out of my apartment."

Sunohara, slightly shaken, had attempted to respond calmly, "You're right, I shouldn't have said it that way and I'm sorry." His face contorted into a frown before he continued, "I'm worried about you dude, even on your worse days in high school you were never this beaten. You have to get better, for your daughter, for Nagisa..."

The anger Tomoya had unleashed a moment ago quickly turned into defeated sadness at the mention of her name, "I..I know that, Youhei." He gags a little trying to respond, tears now starting to fall from his eyes as he crouches down, "I-It's just.. so hard..."

That was all he could say before his hands covered his face, trying to hide the tears and muffle the agonizing cries coming from him. Youhei, deciding he could say no more, left without another word. After that, his attempts at contacting Tomoya through texting became more and more infrequent as they went unanswered, coming at most once every few months.

The flow of memories was suddenly shattered by a loud knock on the door.

Tomoya approached slowly, unsure of whether or not this meet up had been the right call. The door knocked once again as he took a deep breath, adjusted his shirt, and slowly opened the door.

The first thing Youhei did was let out a sigh of relief, before his face lowered into pure annoyance, "I swear Tomoya, you did a great job of making yourself hard to find."

"How so? I gave you the address, what made it so hard?"

"First off, you just gave me the name of the complex, I got lucky by guessing you'd be on this floor, by some miracle, but still had to go knock on a few doors. Second off, the crappy GPS on this phone managed to get me into traffic- in Hikarizaka! Can you believe that? Last but not least, despite us being in contact all week, you managed to tell me the wrong address and never bother correcting your mistake, making me get here late. God..."

It was Tomoya's turn to sigh, but before he could offer a halfhearted apology, a now smirking Youhei added one last thing.

"Oh, and a toilet seat cover."

A similar smirk crept onto Tomoya's face, all the tension he'd felt leading up to this moment seeming to melt away with the completely dumb remark. He extended his arms out and responded, "Then stop standing there and get over here, you huge idiot."

The impulse to hug came naturally, an embrace created by the years they'd spent apart. It was only now that it truly hit Tomoya how special their bond is. For some reason, it didn't surprise him in the slightest that this was how their first interaction went, and he was perfectly happy with that.

After getting settled down inside the apartment, Youhei pulled out a copy of an album Tomoya had never seen before, _Zeitakubyō_ by a band called ONE OK ROCK, as was loudly stated on the cover. He appeared giddy as he looked for something to play it in.

Deciding it'll be impossible to stop him from listening to music, Tomoya decides to help Youhei out, "You aren't going to find anything to listen to it on in the living room. Put it in the computer in my room if you really want to listen."

Youhei sighs, "You're never going to be much of a music guy, are you?"

"Just not my thing.. though it's not like I won't listen, so feel free to put it on."

Youhei seemed content with that answer, nodding silently before heading into the bathroom.

"My bedroom's two doors down to the right."

"Thanks..."

Even though Sunohara hadn't dyed his hair in years, the black hair was still foreign to Tomoya. To him, the blonde hair described his personality: nonchalant, easy to tease, but nonetheless a good man at heart. So with his hair now being its natural black, one would assume that Youhei had gone through some shocking character development, but he was basically just an older version of the same person. Tomoya chuckled as the thought ran through his head- he'd have to tell it to Youhei later.

With Youhei occupied putting on the music, Tomoya walked into the kitchen and looked for something they could snack on. Somehow, without realizing it, Tomoya's entire pantry had become nothing but a cup ramen storage container. He sighed, reaching into his wallet, and found he had around 2000 yen on hand. Pizza would do fine.

"Two personal pizzas, then?"

Now a few minutes into placing his order, Tomoya nodded to himself, "Yes. Make one just plain cheese, and one.." he smirked, "..pineapple."

"Would you like a drink with your order, sir?"

"No thank you, just the pizzas."

"Alright, that will be 1250 yen at the door."

"Thank you."

With that, Tomoya hung up, satisfied with the master plan that had formed in his head, and decided to walk down to his bedroom and listen in on the music Youhei had just gotten playing.

"So, you've finally figured out how computers work. Welcome to the new millennium!"

Youhei quickly turned to Tomoya, a scornful look plastered on his face, "No, your computer was just being stupid."

"Really? Because all the times I've used the disc drive it worked just fine."

"Psshhh, when would you ever even use the disc drive? You said yourself that you're not a music person, and I never saw you as a gamer."

" _Little Busters!_ "

In this instant, Youhei's world ground to a halt. The very fabric of the once uniform space-time continuum was, in his eyes, shattered right then and there. It took a moment for him to process the full gravity of the statement, and even then he didn't want to believe it.

His head draped down, defeated, "So, you've become one of **those...** "

One of Tomoya's eyebrows raised, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Y-You know, an otaku! You spend your days reading about fictional high school romances with overly cutesy anime girls!"

"Stop it. It was an impulse buy I made while drunk a while ago." Tomoya's next statement came out notably quieter, "Besides, the baseball minigame is kind of fun..."

Sunohara collapsed to his knees, a broken image of his former self, "I've lost my best friend..!"

"Shut up! Now you definitely deserve what's coming, Mr. Tech-illiterate."

He picked himself up with surprising ease, "First off, quality comeback, and what do you mean what's coming?"

Tomoya let out a menacing cackle, "Oh, you'll see..."

"You're weirder than I remember, Tomoya."

"You're the one who greeted me with 'and a toilet seat cover.'"

The voice of Youhei rose, challenging Tomoya's response, "That's only because you're the one who said it first, you fool."

Unfortunately for him, however, Tomoya met the challenge head-on, responding with a vicious counterattack, "Only because I knew someone as foolish as you would repeat it over and over, no matter how lame it sounded."

The fatal blow successfully struck Youhei's heart, "G-Guh! I can't believe this..." With this final statement, Youhei collapses onto the bed.

Tomoya is victorious!

He nods confidently, "Yes, this sounds perfect..."

Youhei received the title 'Unlovable flea-brain'!

"How could you!? Tomoyaaaa!"

A few minutes passed after the sudden 'tense' moment, Tomoya sat in the computer chair, spinning himself around over and over while Youhei lied down sprawled out on the bed. Realizing the major issue with this, Tomoya decided to speak up.

"Hey, why are you on my bed? Shouldn't you be in this chair?"

"You killed me."

Deciding the point made was valid, Tomoya simply nodded understandingly, "I guess so..."

They lazed like this for a while, now simply letting the music fill their ears after Sunohara restarted the album. The music couldn't compare in terms of emotional power when it came to Yusuke's work, but Tomoya found the sound easily enjoyable. It was nothing super outstanding, sure, but it was solid stuff, and he found himself nodding along with the music as it went. "Hey, how'd you discover these guys?"

"ONE OK ROCK?"

"Duh."

"Well, when I saw they charted as high as they did with their debut album I had to check them out. It probably wasn't my favorite album of last year, but it is very catchy. I thought you'd like it."

Tomoya smiled, appreciating Youhei's consideration, "You certainly thought right. This is very impressive stuff from a debut artist."

Youhei smiled much wider than Tomoya, giddy over any kind of musical discussion, "I know, right!? I can't wait to see how their sound develops.. though I feel like I say that about half the debuts I listen to, and the later releases never compare."

"Well, people are most naive when they're young, and most experimental when they're naive."

Youhei chuckles, recalling the naivety of his teenage years, "You've got that right."

"Speaking of being younger, weren't you really into hip-hop back then? What happened?"

Youhei sighs, "I'm still really into it as a concept, of course, but nothing's ever been able to capture the magic of Bomb A Head.. all the good hip-hop comes from America these days, but I hardly understand anything they're saying."

"Maybe if you hadn't slept through or skipped every English class in high school, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

Youhei, slightly offended, responded, "Hey, pot meet kettle, man!" He sighs, sadder than he did previously, "Besides, I've been trying to learn some English lately."

With this, a question crossed Tomoya's mind that he was surprised he hadn't asked earlier, "Anyways, what do you do for a living?"

"You're giving up on me that quickly!?"

"Yep."

"Fine then, I'll show you one day."

"..Anyways, job, spit it out."

Before Youhei can respond, however, the doorbell rings and Tomoya gets up from the chair.

"Suppose I should go get that."

"..Sure, you do that." Youhei lets out a sigh of relief as Tomoya leaves the room.

A few moments later, Tomoya returns with two pizza boxes which, upon entering his field of vision, causes Youhei's eyes to dilate, he salivates unknowingly as words return to him, "T-Tomoya! You shouldn't have!"

"On the contrary, I definitely should have." Saying this, Tomoya opens up the two boxes of pizza, revealing the ones he'd detailed in his phone call.

Youhei looked utterly disgusted, "Tomoya, I never thought you a fan of pineapple on pizza..."

Tomoya gave a look of genuine confusion back, "What are you talking about? I got this for you, of course."

The full meaning of Tomoya's previous omen seemed to hit Youhei all at once. What was coming was not the devastating comeback that Tomoya had knocked him out with earlier, but rather the absolutely disgusting pineapple on pizza catastrophe he'd openly despised for the majority of his pizza eating life. His pupils dilated again- this time for the exact opposite reason they had before, his expression went blank. As Tomoya handed Youhei the box and took a bite out of one of his own slices, Youhei finally responded, "May we never meet again, otaku." Despairing over his hunger, Youhei takes off the pineapple pieces before taking a bite of his own.

After casually eating their pizza to completion, Tomoya and Youhei found themselves once again looking for something to talk about. The day was winding down and their previous enthusiasm seemed to have ground to a halt.

After a long moment which seems to last an entire other hour, Youhei finally speaks up, "So, you took Ushio to school on Monday?"

Tomoya looked up surprised, "Yeah, I did. How'd you know?"

Youhei pulled out his phone, displaying a text conversation to Tomoya, "Kyou told me, of course. Apparently, she saw you off at the end of the day?"

"That she did. We had a nice talk, reminiscing over our pasts and, you know, stuff. She said Ushio did well, though I expected that much. She's her mother's daughter, after all."

"I'm happy to hear it either way. Kyou has been really worried about you for a while, you know.. we've all been."

Tomoya seemed truly surprised this time, "You have?"

"Well yeah, idiot. You're one of the best guys we've known. You've helped all of us through our issues, why do you think I tried to return the favor so adamantly?"

Tomoya thought back again to the last time they'd met, a frown slowly showing itself on his face, "Yeah.. I'm really sorry I acted the way I did back then. In the end, you were perfectly right."

Unable to bare Tomoya's defeated expression, Youhei got up and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey man, that's old news! It's totally understandable you acted the way you did. If anything, I should have confronted you again once enough time had passed."

"Well, I'm just happy we're finally hanging out together again."

"Yeah..." Youhei sighed, "how was Kyou? It's been forever since I've seen her in person."

"Surprisingly well, considering something inside her decided she should teach."

"I was just as shocked by that turn of events as you, and I had to watch the transformation happen in real time. It was one of the most perplexing experiences of my entire life."

Tomoya laughed this time, the sadness from earlier completely leaving him, "I can only imagine. If there's one thing I'm happy I missed, it's that."

"Yeah, she's an enigma of a woman."

There's another moment of silence as Youhei looks down at his phone, face crunching together, "Crap, I've got to go in just a few minutes."

"Go on then, don't let me keep you."

Youhei shakes his head, "Before I go, you were asking earlier about what I was doing for myself, right?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. You don't have to answer."

He continues to shake his head for a moment longer before responding, "No, it's better I tell you.." Youhei sighed before continuing, "to be fully honest with you, I've never been able to hold down a full time job. Right now I'm working as a taxi driver for a city a few miles down the road, though previously I've been a waiter, delivery boy, you name it. I've never been able to get past the first interview when things get serious.. I swear, sometimes I feel like such a failure."

"Man, that really sucks. I'm sorry to hear that."

Youhei smiles as best he can at Tomoya, "No need to feel sorry, you know? Despite all that, I still get to wake up with a purpose every day, I get to talk to my little sister as she goes through the trials and tribulations of her own college life.. can you believe that? When you helped us out, she was in middle school."

Tomoya frowns, looking up at the ceiling, "Please, never mention this subject to me again..."

"See what I'm getting at, though?"

"Uh, not exactly."

Youhei stands up mightily as he raises his finger into the air, putting on a voice of false wisdom, "Don't you see, young Okazaki! No matter how things are going, and no matter where you are in this world, you must always look up! You have friends that care about you a lot, and a daughter who does even moreso than those friends combined, so don't avoid relying on them when you really need it!"

Tomoya stands up right after. Smiling back, though with less enthusiasm, "I appreciate it, wise Sunohara. May your wisdom guide me.. that said, try doing it like a normal person next time?"

"Never."

With that, Youhei made his exit. They waved eachother off lackadaisically as Youhei left in the company taxi he'd apparently borrowed. Tomoya closed the door, now alone with nothing but his thoughts again. Luckily, time had passed rather quickly, and it was now dusk. Tomoya lies down on his bed for a moment before realizing he'd forgotten to ask Youhei one last thing. He opens up his phone and shoots him a text.

"Hey, can you shoot me Kyou's number? I'd like to thank her for the other day."

"Of course man, here you go."

With that, Tomoya entered her number into his phone and let himself fully relax.

"Oh yeah, Youhei completely forgot his disc.." he contemplated texting him for a moment, "..oh well."

* * *

Wow! That was quite the reunion, wasn't it? As always, please leave feedback! Any kind of comment is appreciated. Depending on the response I get, I might even go back and rewrite some things later down the road. I love all of you, so please have a nice day.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello everyone, AlwaysTheTruth back again with yet another chapter of my fanfic! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, and since the last one, I've played a couple of the routes in the Clannad visual novel (including Kyou's)! I did this in an effort to better capture the dynamic between Tomoya and Kyou going forward, and I can say I'm much better off now than I was before. As always, please leave a comment once you've read the chapter. Whether you have any feedback or criticism or not, ALL feedback is appreciated dearly. Anyways, hope you all enjoy!

* * *

The next day was going as lackadaisically as one would expect after yesterday's events. Tomoya had ended up getting buzzed to help him sleep, as he couldn't take his mind off what he'd remembered with Youhei. Fortunately, the nightmare he thought he was going to have never came, and feeling inspired, he resolved to do something special today.

He dressed, humming the Dango song to himself absentmindedly. Unlike other things relating to Nagisa, the song only brought back pleasant memories of their short life together and tended to come out whenever he was in a good mood- despite the rarity of the occasion.

After getting himself ready, seeing that he likely wouldn't need to get there for a while, Tomoya looked over the pictures he'd hung up on the wall. Times at school, times at work, and times at home were forever held within them, with all the good and bad emotions they'd experienced along with it. In high school, Tomoya would never have considered himself the sentimental type. Of course, this wasn't surprising, considering the majority of his memories consisted of his delinquency and hatred of life in general up to that point. Gradually, however, the change in his life outlook showed itself, with more and more people appearing in every photo, along with his smile becoming more common along the way. For a time, he didn't care whether or not he ever had a big job, ever had an impact on society, or was remembered for anything after his death- he was perfectly content.

And then the pictures stopped once again, years passing without a memory worth keeping showing up in Tomoya's life. Years wasted slaving away at his work, only being with Ushio on important days in her life outside of extremely rare situations. He wasn't a complete outcast like in the past, but afraid of sentiment altogether.

But today, Tomoya wanted to make a new memory.

With the time nearing noon, Tomoya left his house and again jogged down the all too familiar path to Furukawa Bread. Spring finally seemed to have settled in around him, new life having sprouted down the entire path as he made his trek at a steady pace. This area of the city was easily his favorite, the same stores run by the same families looking as personable as ever as he waved to their respective managers while passing. Before he realized it, the red Furukawa sign was in clear view, and he walked on inside.

"Good afternoon." Tomoya blurted this out to no one in particular as he entered, the sound of his voice doing the job for him, as a pleasantly surprised Sanae appears from behind the counter.

"Okazaki! Thank you for coming again so soon!" She couldn't contain her excitement, giving him an enthusiastic wave while running around the counter. She wouldn't typically do this, but with the store itself surprisingly empty, there was really no reason not to. "Here to buy some bread?"

Tomoya tugged at his shirt, trying to think of a way to sidestep the question, "Well, uh..."

To this, Sanae let out a small giggle, "Kidding, kidding. I'm guessing you're here for Ushio, right?"

"Why do you figure?"

Her face relaxed into a soft smile, "Because, she was very happy to get to see you last time. Knowing you, you were even happier, weren't you?"

Tomoya's face flushed from embarrassment, "Well.. yeah, it was nice." He couldn't admit it out loud, but he had a hard time not crying himself to sleep the night after taking Ushio to school. Despite everything, she wore her mother's warm nature on her sleeve, albeit an unsurprisingly more timid version.

Sanae nodded and signaled him to the back door, "You can go on right ahead, then. She's been up for a few hours, so she might be with Akio right now."

Tomoya finally smiled back, seeming to loosen up a little, "Thank you, Sanae."

She smiled back as he made his way through the back door, looking at the same table he long ago ate his every meal at. It was, of course, unoccupied, but he paused to look around the room anyway. He hadn't really taken a time to acknowledge the many things that made up the Furukawa household over the past few years, but in spite of that, the room was just as familiar to him now as it was back then. There wasn't really much that made it that much different from other places, but there was just enough of a mark left by the respective Furukawas that would make it clear to anyone whose place it is. He decided to take a moment to fully collect himself, not wanting to make a scene the moment he saw Akio and his daughter, before knocking on the bedroom door.

He hears small footsteps patter towards the door for a moment before Akio calls out to them, "I'll get it." The smaller footsteps make their way back as slower, bigger ones replace them, "A customer being difficult, Sa-" the door opens, and Akio's voice silences in an instant before he turns his head back, "I'll be back in a moment, Ushio." He walks into the room and closes the door behind him, leaving a small smile before Ushio's bedroom disappears from sight. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, T, why didn't you say anything about it earlier?"

Tomoya put his hand to his temple, rubbing it as he asks himself the same question, "I just completely forgot to ask, sorry."

"You should be getting more sleep, those are things no one should be forgetting about.. maybe you should drink some tea?"

"No, no, you don't need to make anything for me."

"I wasn't going to," A walks to the refrigerator on the other side of the room and opens it, tossing Tomoya a bottled tea, "drink up."

Not seeing any need to object, Tomoya uncaps the tea and puts the bottle to his mouth. He had forgotten to drink anything before he got here as he'd typically just get himself a coffee once he got to work, so he quickly downed half the bottle without thinking, "Thanks."

"No problem." A sat back down at his usual spot at the table, inviting Tomoya to do the same, "If you're here for Ushio, I should at least talk to her about it before I leave you two be."

"Actually, I was kind of hoping we could do something together..."

"Huuuh?" Akio questioned in his usual exaggerated manner, "You do remember we've got a business to run, right?

Regardless, Tomoya was a bit taken aback by the response. He tended to forget how much it costs to keep the bakery running, and all he could do was nod solemnly, "R-Right, sorry..."

"Now now, don't give up hope just yet.." Akio waved at Tomoya in a more passive manner, "as long as someone is here who can run the place, one of us can do something with you. Ideally Ushio would bring home a guy who we can hire part-time, but unfortunately, no kindergartners seem to be within the age range we want."

"Is that all I ever meant to you..?"

They both managed to find a chuckle out of that exchange. Akio, collecting himself, says, "Alright, I'll take care of things here. You've never really gone out with Sanae, have you? I'm sure she'd be ecstatic to be with both of you."

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I have..." Tomoya thinks back on all his interactions with the Furukawa family. He'd never thought about how busy Sanae must be all the time, balancing being a mother of her daughter and daughter's daughter, along with being a tutor and being the bakery's receptionist outside of her tutoring sessions. Seeing as it's a Sunday, she probably has a rare chance to go out somewhere, "Alright, that sounds good to me."

Akio stood up, clapping his hands together, "Well then, I'll go tell Ushio that she'll be spending the day with you two, you tell Sanae that I'll be holding down the fort. Take care of them, alright?"

Tomoya stood up as well, making his way back out, "Of course. Thanks again for everything."

After explaining the situation to Sanae, to which she happily accepted the offer of a day off, Tomoya only had to wait a moment for Akio to bring out Ushio, who seemed timid as she clung to his leg. She overlooked the two who would be taking her out today, and while she didn't smile, her expression softened a little as she slowly came out from behind him.

Tomoya, despite being tense internally, attempted to have as soft an expression as he could as he bent down to Ushio's level, "..How are you doing, Ushio?"

"..Good." She seemed a little flustered, having her father up so close to her, and her face reddened a little as she turned away to look at Sanae.

"Hi, Ushio. I love your outfit today." Sanae followed in Tomoya's stead and leaned down to face Ushio, her hands squishing her cheeks as she did so.

"S-Sanae..." She seemed upset as she said this, for a reason obvious to everyone watching. Sanae seemed to be in an oddly blissful state as she played with her cheeks. Tomoya naturally didn't know much about how mothers treat their children, but he assumed this would be odd behavior for any parent. Of course, Sanae wasn't really Ushio's mother's either, so maybe this was how grandmothers treat their grandchildren...

Even then, he decided it was a little odd.

After thanking and waving off Akio, they made their way outside and began to walk down the street aimlessly.

"So, Tomoya, where were you hoping to take us? You're paying, by the way." Sanae smiled as she said this.

"I know, I know, I brought enough money for all of us." Tomoya couldn't help but smile as well, he appreciated the subtle edge Sanae had. She never aimed to hurt someone's feelings, but she did enjoy teasing people. He assumed it was one of the many reasons Akio had fallen in love with her to begin with, and one of the many reasons she's always been so good with people in general. However, he didn't have an answer to her initial question, "I didn't really think about that... I was planning on taking Ushio and Akio out to dinner later, and going to Sayama Park or something with them until then."

Sanae, still smiling, flexed her arm, "Hey, it's not like I can't play! I've put up with Akio for this long, after all."

Tomoya closes his eyes and nods in understanding, "True, true. I suppose that's a legendary feat by itself."

This remark gets her to laugh, but she quickly waves it off, "He's dealt with me for just as long, so it balances out."

"Well, would you mind going to the park then?"

"Not at all! I'm more than happy to. If anything, I'm surprised that you're the one asking me to go; I never saw you as one for the park."

"Well, you know..." Tomoya couldn't find the right words for it, something had quietly awoken something within him, and he wanted to spend more time with his daughter. He stopped seeing his wife when he looked at her and was able to see her as her own person. When he tried to put this into words, however, he hesitated.

Sanae, seeing Tomoya struggle, spoke for him, "Don't worry, I get it."

Tomoya smiled, half embarrassed, and responded, "Thank you."

They made their way to Sayama Park. With Spring still blooming, the area was as beautiful as ever. While the cherry blossom trees weren't nearly as verbose as they once were, especially on the walk up to the campus, the blend of them against the vibrant green trees gave the entire park a surreal aura. Ushio's face seemed to light up as she looked over the long field and pond now facing them before focusing her eyes on the small playground just ahead of them. She tugged down on Sanae's hand, looking up at her, "Sanae.. help me slide."

In response, Sanae shook her head. "What would Sanae respond to?"

"..Please help me slide?"

Sanae smiled this time, but still shook her head, letting go of Ushio's hand and taking a few steps back, "I think Tomoya would do a better job, don't you?"

Ushio hesitated for a moment, fiddling with her hands as she slowly turned her attention to Tomoya, "P-Papa..."

"Yes, Ushio?"

Ushio blushed, solemnly approaching Tomoya before continuing, "Please... please help me slide."

"Sure," Tomoya nodded and gently held out his hand, "want me to walk you there?"

She held out her hand, and they slowly walked through the grass with Sanae following right behind. Tomoya had been here many times, of course, and the park already held a lot of memories for him.

"Hey Sanae, how many times has Ushio been to this place?"

"She's been quite a bit actually, we take her out whenever we can- she loves it here."

That didn't surprise him in the slightest. Tomoya silently cursed himself for not having the guts to take her here before, his depression keeping him from ever being in contact with her long enough to do so, and decided to try and make the most of the day.

The slide itself was nothing to behold, but for Ushio, it was one of the grandest sights she'd gotten to behold in her entire life. She looked around the whole contraption with glowing eyes, enamored by its seemingly great height. As Tomoya tried to help her up, Ushio pushed away and got up the stairs herself, saying nothing but "I can do it," before navigating her way all the way to the top. She pointed at the ground where the slide ended, signaling for Tomoya to go over there, to which end he quickly complied. She hyped herself up as she looked down at the ground, a look of determination crossing over her face as she got in and began to slide down.

The ceremony is over in a few seconds, of course, but to Ushio it was a very momentous one- her first time sliding down with Daddy.

He grabs her before she can fly off the end of the slide, picking her up into the air before pulling her down, "You're quite fast, aren't you?"

She thought on this for a moment, a serious expression overtaking her before answering, "I don't know?"

"Well, when I go down the slide it takes a lot longer, so you must be very fast."

She looks up and down at her father, analyzing his figure in her head, before coming to a conclusion, "Too big."

Tomoya sighs, disappointed by how quickly her logic deducted it, "You're no fun, Ushio, you have to learn how to play along."

She thinks on this again for an even longer time, before her face twists in confusion as she answers, "But we're playing."

"..The logic of a five-year-old, I swear..."

They hang out here for a while longer, Ushio mostly playing with Sanae for the rest of the time. Tomoya doesn't mind, the tranquility of the scene takes him to a far away place. Sanae had aged really gracefully, and he wouldn't be surprised if someone would mistake her for the mother, especially with how attached Ushio is to her. The sounds of nature filled the air as the park stood surprisingly quiet. Not many visited anymore, and he wondered whether Ushio would even think about these days once she's grown up. Probably not, but as long as the impression he gives off sticks then it's all the same.

"Nagisa..."

Tomoya looks up at the tree branches providing shade as he says this. This would be the exact kind of area she could rest at for hours. He felt the same way now, too, likely due to the impact she had on his life. He's sure that she'd tell him to look at the bright side- to look at their daughter- and be proud of how well she's developing, and the thought of that makes him happy.

"She really is a good girl, isn't she?"

He looks straight ahead at her, who's smiling bashfully as she talks to Sanae.

"..Our Ushio."

Seeing as the temperature is cooling down, and the sky is a few shades darker than when they'd arrived, Tomoya checks his phone for the time, which is currently 6:17 PM. He slowly stands up, stretching out as yawning, before calling out to the two of them, "Heeey! Who's ready to eat?"

Ushio and Sanae nod to each other before walking over to him. Sanae asks, "Your treat, right?"

Tomoya nods, "Of course. It'd be rude for me to take you somewhere otherwise."

She smiles, "I'd understand if you needed me to foot the bill, but thank you."

Their trip to the restaurant is a rather short one, and the sky doesn't have a chance to get much darker before they do. It's a restaurant in the 'downtown' area of Hikarizaka if you could call it that, named Komari Pan, owned by a young woman known to be rather klutzy and enthusiastic. Tomoya had heard about the place while at work and had been there a couple times since. Considering how quick the commute was, it made a very convenient and surprisingly tasty visit.

They are able to sit down quickly, only waiting a moment before being greeted by a waitress who bows before taking their orders.

"Are three glasses of water fine?" Tomoya asks this as he turns his attention to the two people across from him, who both nod.

The waitress smiles, "That's perfect. Are you all ready to order or would you like a minute?"

Tomoya nods, "I would like to order beef yakisoba."

Sanae then answers for her and Ushio, smiling, "I'll take the anpan, and she'll just have white rice."

The waitress writes this down, promises to be right back, and leaves them to talk amongst themselves. A moment of silence fills the air for a moment as they take in the atmosphere surrounding them. It's a cute little place, walls coated in a light pastel green decorated by the occasional wallflowers, homey wooden floorboards leading all the way up to the closed-off kitchen. The dimmed white lights provided rounding off the easygoing atmosphere the entire place resonated with.

"Have you been here before Sanae? They don't serve anything out of the ordinary but the food is fantastic."

"I hadn't, actually! I hate to admit it, but I didn't even know it existed..."

"After living here as long as you have?"

Sanae pouts, "Don't give me a hard time over it, it's hard enough leaving my own street, let alone going downtown..."

Tomoya chuckles, "Kidding, kidding. It's only been here for around a year, so if you hadn't heard about it from someone else no one would get on your case over it."

"How'd you hear about it?"

"At work, though mainly it was just guys ogling over the owner."

"I hope you weren't planning on coming here to do that." Sanae giggles, a playful tone in her voice as she does so.

"Obviously not, please don't treat me like Sunohara."

"I didn't say Sunohara..."

"It was implied."

They continued to idly chitchat for a little while longer before getting their food. The table puts their hands together and all say, "Let's eat" before beginning to chow down.

About a minute into their meal, however, a gasp from someone a short ways away from them gets Tomoya to look to the side after swallowing a bite. His eyes widen for a moment before he puts on his typical demeanor, "Ahhh, Kyou. We've got to stop bumping into each other like this."

Kyou's face reddens, embarrassed that she's been noticed, "T-Tomoya! Sorry, I just got confused for a second, uh.. you're eating."

"Yes."

"With Ushio and.. Sanae, right?"

"Yes, though it's easy to guess why you were confused."

Kyou sighs, holding her head down in shame, "Sorry..."

Tomoya shakes his head, "It's fine, it's not like I've been out with Sanae much, so it's something I'd expect you to get confused about."

Kyou flashes her trademark death smile, "Oh? Did you say something?"

"I'm saying you pick up on things about as quick as a sloth."

"You don't have to put it so bluntly!"

Sanae, amused by the scene taking place in the front of her, decides to call out to Kyou, "If you're going to be eating, why not sit with us? We've just started eating, ourselves."

Kyou scratches the back of her head abashedly, surprised by the offer, "I couldn't. I don't want to intrude, and I'd hate to have you pay when I'm more than capable of buying my own meal."

"Oh? I'm not paying, Tomoya is."

"Oh!" Kyou smiles, her face lightening up as she walks toward their table, "In that case, I wouldn't mind getting a little more than usual." She sits down next to Tomoya, humming a small tune as she does so.

Tomoya lets out a slight grimace at the thought, hand instinctively looking for his wallet, "Sanae, you're too kind, really..."

"You're the kind one here! Thanks for treating us!"

Kyou gives him a slight jab in the stomach, "Mhm! Thank you sooo much, Tomoya!"

Tomoya sighs, looking over at the now laughing Kyou. His eyes rest on her for a moment as she turns to him, offering up a teasing, yet genuine smile. Tomoya had forgotten how much he'd appreciated that expression during his second year of high school, likely due to the fact he appreciated nothing else in his life at the time. He finds himself smiling back, before turning his eyes toward Ushio, who seems to have entered a stunned silence.

"What's wrong, Ushio?"

She slowly points at Kyou. "Teacher..."

Kyou was surprised to find Ushio sitting there, she hadn't noticed her next to Sanae, "U-Um.. yes, Okazaki?"

Ushio's expression turned to one of great concern, "Teacher, no fighting with daddy!"

Kyou waves her hands semi-hysterically, seemingly wanting to deny the allegations thrown at her, "W-We weren't fighting! It was just a joke."

"No fighting, not even as a joke!"

Kyou silently cursed herself for her rather disciplinarian approach to avoiding conflict during class, turning to Tomoya now out of desperation, "I didn't hurt you, right Tomoya? Right?"

"Ahh..." Tomoya clutched at his stomach in exaggerated agony, "That elbow hurt so much I have a stomachache, I think I need to go to the bathroom."

Ushio, watching the whole event unfold in major distress, shakes a little as her voice wavers, "I-I think I need to use the bathroom too..."

Sanae gives her a gentle pat on the head, "It's okay, Ushio. Tomoya's just kidding, he isn't really hurt."

"But teacher said all fighting is bad..."

"Hmm..." Sanae has to think of the right response before saying anything, "Well, it's a grown-up thing. You'll get it when you're older, alright?"

Ushio, calming down, gives a small nod, "...Alright."

Tomoya, noticing that Ushio's distress was genuine, offers words of his own, "I really am fine, Ushio. I'm sorry if I worried you."

"And I'm sorry for fighting, Okazaki." Kyou gives a slight bow in Ushio's direction, "I promise as your teacher, I'll stop fighting, alright?"

Ushio finally smiles a crack, "Thank you Daddy, teacher."

When the waitress makes her next round across the tables, Kyou takes full advantage of the opportunity given to her and, to Tomoya's dismay, orders as much off the menu as she can. Her appetite clearly hadn't changed much over the years, as she takes her last bite around the same time as everyone else.

"Ah! That hit the spot... I really needed that after these past few days." Kyou thinks out loud, voicing her satisfaction to the entire table.

"We're all proud of you." Tomoya belted, clearly unamused as he continued to stare at the 6487 Yen receipt in the middle of the table. He has 7000 Yen right next to it, the rest meant as a tip.

Sanae, in much higher spirits, asks, "I suppose we're already to go then?"

The entire table nods silently, with Kyou being the first to get up, "I have to prepare for the school week, so I'll leave you all here."

Sanae chimes in before Kyou can get anywhere, "Actually, would you mind taking Tomoya home?"

The two the question is directed act let out a simultaneous, "Huh?" Kyou asks the obvious question, "Why would I have to do that?"

"Well, his place is much farther from here than Furukawa Bread, so it's the only way to make sure he makes it there safely."

Tomoya, perplexed, attempts to discourage the idea, "It's Hikarizaka, Sanae, how often can something bad really happen around here?

"You say that, but I happen to recall two people you know who used to be involved with gangs."

With that, any hope of discouraging the idea was snuffed out, as Tomoya and Kyou again sighed simultaneously, "Promise me you two will be safe, then."

Sanae smiles, "Of course, I'll have Akio come here with the lightsaber."

Kyou's confusion was immediately obvious, "The.. lightsabers..?"

"It's a long story, Kyou, don't worry about it." Tomoya turned back to the two across from him, "Anyway if you really don't mind, I suppose this is our goodbye for now."

Sanae nods and gets out of her seat, the two still sitting following the former.

Tomoya leans down and smiles at his daughter, "I hope you had fun today Ushio. I'll see you later, alright?"

Ushio nods, blushing a little, "Thank you, Daddy..."

"You're welcome."

With the exchange of farewells complete, the four split into twos at the door. Sanae and Ushio walk off a little and rest on a bench, waiting for Akio, as Kyou leads Tomoya off in the opposite direction towards her bike. The sky is now obviously dark, and while the stars grew dimmer each year, they still appeared much brighter than they did in most of the country.

Catching Tomoya looking up at the sky, Kyou's eyes follow his, "Sky looks beautiful tonight, doesn't it?"

Tomoya, continuing to look up, responds, "I never took you for a stargazer."

"I'm not. The only stars I know by name, besides our own, are Vega and Altair, and even then I couldn't point them out. But that doesn't change the fact that the sky is beautiful."

"That's true, I suppose you don't need to be experienced with stars to appreciate them. I know I'm not."

"Exactly."

The two of them eventually begin walking again, until they're only a few steps ash from a newish looking bike.

Kyou looks back at Tomoya, leaning against the bike, "By the way, I heard from Sunohara that you two finally hung out yesterday."

Tomoya nods, "Yeah, it was nice to finally hang with him after so long. Did you know he'd been learning some English lately?"

"He has!?" Kyou was reasonably perplexed.

"Yep, so he can listen to American hip-hop."

Kyou giggles, a smile again breaking out across her face, "That's Sunohara for you."

"Tell me about it..."

They laughed for a while at the misfortune of their dumb friend.

Kyou looked away from Tomoya before continuing, "..I also heard that you got my number from him."

"Oh, uh, yeah."

Kyou giggled more, though this time it was half embarrassed, "Sly dog, didn't even have to ask me directly."

"Well, I forgot to ask at the time... sorry about that."

"What are you apologizing for? I doubt you would've been willing to give your number over to someone you were seeing for the first time in years anyway, I don't mind you getting it off of Sunohara."

"That's true. I was pretty nervous, especially since it was you."

"What was that?"

"Ah, I meant to say especially since it was too long since we'd last seen each other."

"Of course you did."

Kyou got herself onto the bike, patting the open space behind her.

"It's alright if I'm behind you?"

"How else are you getting home? I'm not a girl anymore, so get on."

"Sheesh, point taken."

She passed her phone to him, letting him enter in his address before she set it up in the GPS. Then he got on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as the bike started and began to speed off from the restaurant. The downtown area behind them, the surrounding area was filled by the sounds of the night, bugs and animals nestling in the fields around them as they drove through the area only lit through human engineering. Tomoya took pride in this, many of the lights they passed being ones he'd worked on at various points in his career. The rigor of being a mechanic was much more fulfilling than the tedium of a high school classroom.

Kyou breathed in, taking in the night's unique wisps of air, "This takes me back, we did this way too often back then. Don't you remember?"

"How could I forget? It was typically preceded by suffering lifelong injuries by way of you. Those are moments that literally shaped who I am today."

"Nice delivery, but a little too obvious on the execution. 9/10."

"Looks like I've still got it after all!"

The journey to his apartment continued without much more conversation from either person. When they finally arrived in front of his apartment, Tomoya got off the bike.

"Still living in this tacky old place?"

"Yeah, couldn't afford anything better if I wanted to."

"That's understandable. I'm still living with my parents. It's fine with them as long as I'm working, but still, I can't judge..."

They stood still for a little while before Tomoya turned to head to his room, "Thanks for hanging out with us tonight, Kyou. I'll see you around."

Before he could get far, however, Kyou called out to him, "Hey, Tomoya!"

He turned around, confused, "Yeah?"

"Well... feel free to text me whenever. We have a lot of catching up to do, after all, so don't shy away from it unless you want to make a girl text first."

"I thought you were a woman now?"

Kyou grumbled, "Fine, don't make a **woman** text first. Does that sound better?"

"Now it just sounds like you're a woman who never grew up."

"Just text me when you feel like talking, alright!? I swear if I had a dictionary on me the next thing you'd remember would be waking up where you stand."

Tomoya chuckled, "Thanks, I'll be sure to. Just promise not to carry any dictionaries on you."

"It's a promise. Goodnight, Tomoya."

"Drive safely."

"Of course."

With that, Kyou drove off. Quickly leaving sight as Tomoya waved in her direction for a little while before turning around and heading to his apartment.

Once inside, Tomoya managed to make it to his bed before collapsing out of exhaustion. The day had been a busy one for sure, and his full stomach kept him from wanting anything to do with alcohol until tomorrow, but he smiled despite that. He felt he'd spent the day well, and although it wasn't the memory he was expecting, he decided it was one worth keeping. A happy, carefree day with Sanae, Ushio...

And most unexpected of all, Kyou.

Kyou Fujibayashi, the wild, easily angered, but compassionate high school student he used to be so close to. Before meeting Nagisa, she and the much quieter Ryou made up pretty much all the interesting moments in his life. Maybe at one point, he'd been interested in Kyou as more than just a friend, he was pretty sure Ryou was interested in him.

That being that, he was happy things didn't turn out that way. He wasn't sure he'd be alive if Kyou had been able to beat him up on a daily basis, and the time he spent with Nagisa had given him everything that kept him alive today. He decided to visit her grave when he could and tell her how things had been lately, before falling asleep in his thoughts.

* * *

I think I did a nice job writing all the characters together in this chapter! I really enjoyed writing out the interactions between them, and while this chapter was a LOT longer than anything I've put out on this site before, I sincerely hope the quality didn't suffer too much as a result. I plan on rewriting Ushio's line from the first chapter a little bit, as I also rewatched a lot of her interactions with Tomoya in the anime. I feel like I did a much better job with her in this chapter than the first, when it comes to capturing her quirks and the like. I'm really excited to see how this story proceeds from here, as I feel like the foundation has been set fairly well! If there's anything you'd like to see touched up a little, please say so in the form of a comment! I'll be back soon and until then I hope you all enjoy yourselves!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter of this fic of mine. A little longer than I'd like I'm between updates, but that's what happens when school gets going! This chapter was pretty much written off of three separate streams of consciousness, so if there's any inconsistency in the writing or just anything you don't like feel free to say so in a review!

PS: Ugh, just noticed I slipped into present tense at one point during the last chapter. I'll try to fix it soon.

* * *

As usual for Tomoya, he started his day in a sluggish fashion, only dragging himself out of bed when he felt that if he didn't now, he never would. Lately, he'd been feeling like people were keeping him busier than he was used to, which certainly didn't help. The fact that he was still adjusting to his new position only compounded the issue. It turns out that managing people is somehow harder than being managed. Fortunately, his hardworking nature in the past had already earned the respect of a lot of his coworkers, but certain people had a harder time taking him seriously- those were the people who made his job tiring.

And so, he went through his usual non-hangover motions: first fixing his bed into shape, then setting up the coffee machine while getting himself the equivalent of a snack for breakfast. After putting an ice cube into the freshly poured cup, he went and got dressed in one of his three rotating uniforms he'd accumulated through many paychecks, fixing his hair until presentable, and going back to his coffee, finally adding a small amount of cream, which when mixed, makes his ideal wake-up drink. Despite the hotness just passing below searing, he manages to down it within a minute. Lastly, he makes sure to text people who he wants to keep tabs with: first Akio regarding Ushio, then Sunohara who he messages in a more casual manner, and finally-

-the newest addition to his list, Kyou.

 **Up and at them already, I presume?**

 **A good presumption, I'm already at school! You don't know how hard it is to prepare a class.**

 **For kindergarteners?**

 **ESPECIALLY kindergarteners! These kids get bored after five seconds of non-stimulating material, what are parents doing these days!?**

 **Can't say I was any different, at least not in high school.**

 **High school's different, you're supposed to spend your time alternating between bored and stressed 24/7, this is supposed to be new and exciting! I was expecting to have them in awe with the answer to 87!**

 **Guess it wasn't that easy. I know a thing or two about people who just refuse to listen.**

 **Tell me about it. If it wasn't for the few students like Ushio who are just happy to be here, I'd have lost it by now.**

 **Sure, I'll tell you about it. So there's this one really douchey guy who likes to be called Nakamura who really thinks he's better than me, and can't shut up about how bad my instructions are. I've even nicknamed him "Bakamura** **" in my head.**

 **First off, "tell me about it" is a figure of speech, second off, that's a really lame pun.**

Tomoya chuckled, **I know.**

Unbeknownst to him, Kyou chuckled as well before sending one last text, **Anyways, I have to start class in just half an hour now, and I want to get breakfast before I do, so I'll be sure to message you when I can! (xuO)**

He'd never received an emoticon in a text before, but he quickly realized that Kyou would, naturally, use them at least from time to time, **Good luck!** was all he texted before heading out for work, finally feeling rejuvenated enough to take on the day.

Unfortunately for him, **I'll be sure to message you when I can!** turned out to be an ominous sign of what was to continue throughout the day. That is, a barrage of messages every hour or so that he couldn't answer. When he finally opened his phone, he was greeted by an increasingly frustrated teacher prepared to take all of her frustrations out on him.

 **The fact that you take so long in responding to a woman is a testament to who you are as a man!**

Tomoya grumbled while staring down at his buzz-happy phone. It's his lunch break at the moment, so it isn't too much of an issue, but the constant nagging texts by Kyou seemed to be never-ending.

 **I have told you countless times, I'm not going to respond to you when I'm working.**

Tomoya shot back, desperately clinging to his last bits of patience.

 **You'd put work before women.. it's a miracle you won't die a virgin.**

 **That was very rude.**

 **..You're right, sorry.**

Tomoya and Kyou had begun texting more and more over the past few days, and he'd be the first to admit it was refreshing to be dragged away from reality for a bit each day. It certainly could be annoying at times, but he still found her easy to talk to. Their conversations hadn't been truly serious or thought-provoking, but he didn't mind that- not with the serious mood his job always kept him in.

"Okazaki, I'm sorry I'm asking, especially during your lunch, but where did you want me to go, again?"

Tomoya looked up from his phone, a small smile remnant from the exchange, "No issue, you should be working through South East Mitakihara," he drew two lines onto one of the many small maps of the city he held on to, "from here to here."

The young man, named Takeshi, bowed his head, "Thank you very much, I'll get right to it!" He ran off, prompting Tomoya to chuckle. Out of everyone he worked with, he found more of himself in Takeshi than anyone else.

He finally texted Kyou back.

 **It's fine, I just hope your faculty board doesn't read your text history.**

 **They don't, so don't lose sleep over it.**

Tomoya smiled.

 **Don't worry, I wasn't planning to. Now I have to get back to work, so bother me later**

 **Gladly!**

Managerial duties turned out to be quite hectic for the busybody that Tomoya had been for the past few years. He'd never been a fan of paperwork and was almost proud to admit it, so the fact that he now found himself spending most of his days planning out and organizing a work schedule for an entire city's electric maintenance almost disgusted him. Regardless, he worked with the same tenacity that he'd been instilled with, and thus was able to pass the time without any protruding thoughts.

By the time the clock hit 4:30, Tomoya had managed to tire himself out, despite the fact he'd spent most of his day inside. If it hadn't been for Yusuke's mentorship, he imagined he would currently be having a much harder time with everything. He'd have to thank him later.

The night manager arrived, and after exchanging schedules and work arrangements, quickly parted after a courtesy bow. Tomoya opened his phone and shot Kyou a quick text, **Work's over, how was your day?**

Kyou went on the usual tirade for the next several minutes, much to Tomoya's amusement as he made his way back home. If there was one word he'd have used to describe their relationship in high school it would probably be 'unfiltered'. Naturally, time has mellowed both of them out quite a bit, but their old dynamic was slowly but surely becoming second nature through text. Frankly, he'd be shocked to see her act out as she used to in public now that she has a job to keep, so he felt lucky to see a part of her she usually shut off.

 **The typical, then?**

 **No shit.**

Even so, he was surprised by her aggressive words, maybe something more than the typical had happened today, after all. Hoping to ease her stress a little, he replied, **How was Ushio's day?**

Instead, the response he got made his heart sink, **That's the reason I'm so mad today. She was being bullied by one of the boys, Kenji.. by the time I noticed, she was holding back tears.**

Tomoya felt tense as he stood at his front door, **Why was she upset?**

 **No matter how I tried to phrase it, she didn't want to tell me. She said she was fine.**

Tomoya sighed, scratching his head in an effort to release angst, **I just wish you would've told me sooner.**

 **I'm sorry, I just didn't want to stress you out while you were still at work.**

 **I understand. I'm guessing she's home by now?**

 **She should be, Sanae picked her up after school today.**

 **Thank you- I'll talk later.**

Change of plans- Tomoya immediately left his apartment and went through the typical jog to the Furukawas. Noticeably more students wearing their uniforms walked in all directions down the once empty path. Even when the school year had even in full swing in the past, it had been a rather barren road. Even with Japan's stifling birth rates, the growth of small towns like these was inevitable. It made him feel ironically lonely, feeling as if the world was leaving him behind before he could leave any sort of impression on it. Even the trees Tomoyo had fought so hard to keep standing were slowly being replaced by businesses and school parking- mostly for bikes, as no one went by car- but even that was unimaginable just a few years ago. The times he'd spent scolding Kyou on her reckless driving lingered nostalgically in his head until he found himself subconsciously opening the familiar doors to the bakery.

Sanae greeted him with a questioning smile, "Tomoya? What brings you here?"

"I heard about what happened at school today, from Kyou."

"So you did, huh..." she almost let herself frown, returning to a smile at the last moment, "..you two seemed to really enjoy our time together the other day, so I'm happy you're keeping touch... you two should be friends."

Tomoya felt uncharacteristically bashful at her words, "We don't talk much, but yeah, I agree."

"You weren't here to talk, though, so do you want me to bring Ushio out?"

"That's fine, I'll go to her room."

Sanae nodded, "I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

Tomoya couldn't help but smile as well, given Sanae's maternal tenderness- she's the closest thing he has to a Mom, "Thank you, I'll hopefully be back soon enough."

With that, he walked to Ushio's door, giving a soft, slow knock to not alarm her as best he could, "Ushio? It's your dad. Mind me coming in?"

About a minute goes by with no response, so he lets himself in without another word. Ushio is huddled in a corner, facing him just enough to show a small frown as she absentmindedly plays with her toys. Tomoya, continuing his slow pace, approaches Ushio until he's close enough to crouch down across from her, "How are you doing?"

"..I'm fine."

"You can't expect me to believe that, not when you're giving such a solemn look."

"...I don't want to talk about it."

"That's not good, Ushio, one time I didn't tell my dad something important, and you know what happened?"

"..What?"

Deciding Ushio didn't need to learn the harsh reality of life just yet, Tomoya gave an over dramatically exaggerated response, "The thought became a curse, and I was doomed to be sad... forever!"

"..You were having fun with teacher last time I saw you."

"I-Ignore that." He waved it off, "Point is, I'm very very sad, and until I fix your problem, I won't be able to be happy!"

To his dismay, Ushio's frown deepened, "..You can't fix it."

"Why not?"

Finally, Ushio began to spill the beans, "..W-Well, we were talking about what our parents do, and I said Sanae told me you worked as an electric man.. but everyone laughed, that I live with Sanae and Akio and not you..."

Tomoya felt his heart tense, he put as loving a hand as he could on her shoulder, "Anything else?"

"They asked why, and I said it's because I have no mama... and they said I can't be a good girl if I don't have a mama..."

It was the kind of stupid thing kindergarteners say, but seeing how clearly distraught it made his daughter made Tomoya feel helpless.

"..Am I not a good girl, daddy..? I-Is that why-"

Ushio was pulled into a full embrace before she could say any more. Tomoya couldn't help but tear up when the question left her mouth, and he couldn't bear to hear the rest, "You're..." he hesitates, "..you're Nagisa's daughter, Ushio... she was a great mommy, so of course you're a good girl. I've been a bad daddy, that's why you're living here... I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He doesn't feel strong enough to talk about Nagisa in detail get, but he couldn't let his daughter feel unwanted.

Ushio was clearly taken aback by the powerful emotions coming from her father, and she felt the tension leave her body, "...Thank you. I feel better now. I'm really happy that you love me."

Tomoya hadn't said it himself, but he was relieved his daughter understood, "That's right, Ushio, I love you." He held out a pinkie, "Promise me you won't forget that?"

They smiled in unison as they locked pinkies, and after a moment Ushio yawned, "..I'm sorry, I feel sleepy."

"Want to take a nap?"

"Yeah."

Tomoya rustled her hair a little, "Then sleep well. You have school tomorrow, so you can't be tired."

Ushio nodded, getting up without another word and lying down in her kotatsu. Tomoya made his way to the door, turning around to wish her a good night before leaving the room. He was surprised when greeted by a smiling, tear-stained Sanae.

"Sorry! I couldn't help but listen in..."

Tomoya scratched the back of his head, "I-It's fine... how did I do?"

"You did great..." Sanae pulled Tomoya into a hug, "Listening to you talk to her, I'm happy my daughter married you. You don't have to be here- most fathers might not- but here you are."

"But I wasn't here, not for five years." Tomoya answered her embrace with one that seemed to seek comfort, "Do you think she really loves me, despite that?"

Sanae stroked his hair in a way only a mother can, "More than anything, you're her superhero."

Tears of relief finally fell from his cheeks, "T-That's quite a responsibility, for someone who never had one." He couldn't help but think that there was a point in his life where his dad _was_ his superhero, but that time had long since passed by. For all the life he remembered, he'd either had a strained relationship or none at all.

Sanae simply comforted him, "That's why Akio and I are here. We know you need help... speaking of which, give me a second." She slowly released from his embrace, grabbing three tickets she had stored in the front counter. "The two of us are going to visit with a family friend who's currently in hospice over the week of the Founder's Festival. I know Ushio doesn't have any school during that time, so could you and a friend take her on a small vacation of sorts? We think you'd really like the spot."

Tomoya looked over the three tickets, the name of an unfamiliar town was written on each of them.

"We were originally going to go over the Summer, but he developed the illness very suddenly, and we don't know how much time he has left. We did by an extra ticket, so you can bring somebody if you'd like, but I really hope this doesn't inconvenience you."

Tomoya shook his head. A while ago, he'd likely have to be forced to spend any time with Ushio, but he now felt more than willing to, "Not at all, tell the old man I'll be more than happy to take Ushio on a vacation. Yusuke can probably put in a good word for me, as long as I set the schedule for the week beforehand."

Sanae let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness. I won't keep you any longer, want some bread before you head out?"

"Uhh, thanks but no thanks." He quickly concocted an excuse, rubbing his stomach, "very very full. You know how it is."

He was relieved to see Sanae take the bait, smiling gleefully as they said their goodbyes. He sent Yusuke a text repeating what he'd talked about just before. If he remembered correctly, the Founder's Festival would be next week at this point of the year, so he'd have to arrange something quick.

He remembered that he'd promised Kyou to tell her when he was finished with Ushio, however, so he took care of that first, **Ushio's feeling better now. Again, thanks for telling me.**

 **No problem! I couldn't stand to see her like that myself, so I really am glad you were able to help her.**

Tomoya smiled. He figured he may as well tell Kyou what he told Yusuke, **Sanae and the old man are going to be gone over the Founder's Festival, so they gave me three tickets to take Ushio and a friend out somewhere. I was thinking of taking** **Sunohara,** **but figured he'll be too busy. Do you know anyone who would appreciate a vacation?**

He got quite close to his apartment before he got a response, **Why not me? I have next week off too, after all, and I'm sure she'd be more comfortable going with a familiar face.**

Tomoya didn't spend too long thinking about it- the logic was sound, **Sure, but don't complain too much if you're bored.**

 **No worries, I'll complain just enough to annoy you and amuse Ushio! (xuO)**

The wink appeared again, this one somehow more condescending than the last. Tomoya dropped his shoulders and let out an exaggerated sigh no one else could hear, mostly for his sake, **You just can't help yourself, can you?**

 **Nope!**

This got a laugh out of him. It was typical behavior for her, and he welcomed it after the tension of the day.

They carried on their typical conversation for a while longer until Kyou had to call her sister, and Tomoya found himself in the silence of the apartment. He found himself too tired to do much, however, especially with his mind on the week ahead. These thoughts carried him to an early bedtime. He really was becoming more and more at the will of others, wasn't he? It was no wonder he was so tired.

But thinking about Ushio's smile, Youhei's overeager texts, Sanae and Akio's unwavering support, and Kyou's unfiltered friendship, he decided he didn't mind it at all.

* * *

That's that for this chapter. While I don't feel it was necessarily lacking, I have a feeling next chapter will have a lot more to it when it gets published. Feel free to leave feedback below! Hope you're all enjoying the characters so far, I'm very happy to see the support for this story (20 followers!) and will try to write more for all of you! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

I'd originally meant for this to all be one part, but it's been too long since the last chapter. Please enjoy part one of the vacation!

* * *

For Tomoya, the rest of the week seemed to pass by in an instant as his mind spent most of its time thinking ahead to next week. It wasn't as if he hadn't been alone with Ushio before, but it was only ever to have a small conversation with her before giving her back to the capable Furukawas. Would he really be okay dealing with her by himself for an entire week? His insecurities tried telling him that she too, despite her innocence, would come to scorn him by the end of next week. The more sensible part of him fought back the intrusive thoughts as best as they could. After all, it's not like he would be entirely alone.

He was surprised when Kyou had volunteered herself of all people to go on the trip with him. He certainly didn't mind- not only was she right in that Ushio would likely be more comfortable, but he had to admit he would be as well. He wasn't sure if his daughter was ready for Youhei just yet, ignoring how busy he would probably be for the rest of his life anyway, and he would be way too uncomfortable with anyone- even Kyou's sister- if a week-long trip was the first time they'd seen each other in years. So though he wouldn't admit it out of a stubborn sense of pride, he really was grateful for Kyou's volunteering.

Before the trip, however, there was one more obstacle he had to surpass.

"Tomoyaaaa! Tomoyaaaa! Bomb-a-head's finally been surpassed!"

"What could you possibly be going on about?"

Tomoya was mentally kicking himself for opening the door to an overexcited Youhei, who'd visited him by surprise.

Youhei, practically hyperventilating, responded, "I'm telling you Tomoya, blank, this new song by Kreva, _C'mon, Let's Go_ , it's a masterpiece! Unparalleled in this time and times past! You have to listen to it!"

Tomoya sighed, "Alright, alright! I'll listen to it. Please don't tell me you came over just to tell me that."

Youhei shook his head, "That'd be very stupid. After all, I could always just text you." He flashed one of his trademark stupid grins, "I just wanted to hang out with my number one bud is all!"

"Number one..." Tomoya couldn't help but smile as he shook his head, "Fine, come on in. I could use the company."

Youhei let out a victorious snicker as he plopped himself down on the couch, "Wow, your place looks a lot better than the last time I was here! Did meeting up with me get you to sober up?"

It was time for Tomoya's riposte, "Nope. It's been under tragic circumstances I haven't been able to drink lately as people like this one douche named Youhei keep distracting me from my alone time."

Youhei put on an annoyed expression, "Well geez, this douche can always go home if you want him to."

"No, stay here, I'm lonely."

"Which is it!?"

"Even if you are a douche, I guess you can substitute as company for anyone else!"

This was the fatal blow Tomoya had been looking for as Youhei let out an agonizing cry- he had won.

"Well, now that that's settled.. let's listen."

For the most part it was just what he'd expect out of Japanese hip hop, but the genre had apparently evolved a lot since he'd first heard Sunohara rambling about it. While the rhyme structure hadn't changed much the instrumentation had clearly evolved quite a bit in the past few years.

"Well, I guess it is better than Bomb-A-Head."

"I know, right!?"

"Though really, I'm just happy to hear you listening to hip hop outside of Bomb-A-Head."

"Hey, it wasn't like I never listened to other stuff, but Bomb-A-Head was peak artistry until now, so of course I gave it the most listens."

Tomoya smirked as an idea entered his mind, "You know, you obviously enjoy listening to music, so why not try making it?"

Youhei raised an eyebrow, "Elaborate."

"Well, you seem to have a good enough understanding of what makes good music popular, and I know you aren't happy with where you are in life at the moment, isn't it something you've considered?"

To Tomoya's surprise, Youhei almost seemed angry at the question, "Please, someone like me couldn't have talent in a creative field like that."

"Why not? You were honestly getting better at the guitar until you gave up on it, I'm sure Yusuke would agree. And as surprising as it is for me to admit it..." Tomoya thought back on all the stories he and Youhei had played off of back in high school, "..I've always considered you good with narrative."

Youhei, still carrying a stern expression, actually seemed to give it serious consideration for a moment before shaking his head, "No way. Not only am I way too busy to make music professionally, but with my ambition? I'd certainly give up on it almost immediately." A sad smile lingered on his face, "This is the life I've chosen for myself. There's no point in trying to change that."

The sudden tone shift made Tomoya feel like a jerk, and he apologized solemnly, "Sorry for bringing it up. I just know you love your music, and I guess I took that a little too far."

Youhei shook his head once more "It's fine. If anything, I'm happy you said I have some talent." His typical stupid grin returned, "I'll be sure to hold your man crush on me against you in the future."

"I regret everything."

The night carried on in this manner for a while longer before Youhei eventually had to get home. They waved each other off before the closed door separated them, and Tomoya once again found himself feeling very tired.

"He asks why I don't drink, then spends the whole night taking the life out of me..." He muttered to himself before resigning himself to another sober sleep. It was probably better this way, anyway, as his trip with Ushio started tomorrow.

Ushio...

The anxiety returned to him like a shot of adrenaline. He really was worried about what his daughter would think of him. He felt justified in hating his dad, so what would stop Ushio from feeling any different? Despite everything his dad did, he'd never left him with someone else, let alone for five years. These thoughts continued to gnaw at Tomoya as he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

The shriek of his alarm woke him with a start. He hadn't meant to think too much about everything, though that's what he ended up doing. He knew there wasn't much point in worrying about it, the Furukawas were leaving today and he'd have to take her regardless.

After calling the Furukawas and making sure everything was going well, he quickly made his way to the bakery, not wanting to miss them when they left. He let Kyou know with a text that he'd be at the bakery, but it went unanswered. Thinking nothing of it, he made haste and- in the nick of time- made it in time to find the Furukawas saying their goodbye to Ushio, their car already started. Tomoya gave the group a wave as the old man walked up to him, putting his hands on Tomoya's shoulders.

"You're lucky you made it in time, I'd have given you a piece of my mind if you'd been late."

Tomoya shook his head, "Like I'd miss seeing you two off."

Akio chuckled, "After all this time, you seem to finally be growing up a little."

Sanae came up from behind him, "Be nice to Tomoya, Akio. He's the reason we're able to leave in the first place."

He groaned, "Fiiine, fine. You did alright, brat."

Tomoya smiled, "Thanks, old man."

After a couple minutes of casual conversation, they finally said their goodbyes to each other. Akio wished Tomoya good luck and Sanae gave Ushio a hug before they went off to catch their bus.

Tomoya checked his watch, which read 9:43. "Well, Ushio," he turned to his daughter, "we don't leave until the evening. I'm assuming they already told you about our plans?" He pulled out three tickets and Ushio gave a small nod. "In that case, is there anything you'd like to do until then? Sorry I'm asking, but I really don't know what you like to do for fun, outside of going to the park..."

Ushio cocked her head to the side, her hand in a fist against her chin as she silently contemplated his question, "...TV?"

"You want to watch TV?"

She nodded again.

"That's fine with me. Do you know what you want to watch?"

Another nod.

"In that case, mind heading inside on your own? I'm sure you can manage the remote yourself, and a guest is supposed to be here in a few minutes..."

Ushio ran off without a word. He could understand if she was feeling shy, especially with the busy week ahead of them, so he wouldn't give her any grief for it. Not that he would otherwise, of course.

As the minutes ticked by, however, he saw no sign of the purple haired woman. Tomoya never really got how purple hair like hers was possible in the first place. What kind of genetic mishap was that? The very thought confounded him...

He shook himself, refocusing on the main issue, and checked his watch, which now read 10:03. With a long sigh, he gave up on the idea of her coming anytime soon and went inside the bakery. Tomoya had never seen the place so empty, the only sign of life a faint buzzing coming from the back of the building. If there was one constant that had lasted all these years, it was Sanae and Akio, always at or around the bakery, and always welcoming him with open arms. The lack of there presence really didn't register until that moment, and he felt a chill go down his spine. Not out of fear, but just the strange feeling of something lacking. Not wanting to think about it for too long, he made his way through the store and down the hallway to their living room, where Ushio sat mesmerized by an episode of Pokémon. Tomoya decided to sit down next to her and gave her a pat on the head.

Ushio tensed up a little, mostly out of surprise before turning to her dad, a small tint of red on her face, "H-Hi."

"Hi, Ushio. Do you like this show?"

She gives what at this point is her trademarked silent nod.

"Anything you like most about it?"

She brought her hands to her chin and rested her head on them, staring at the show for a few seconds before responding, "It's fun."

Tomoya watched, as well, as one of the Pokémon got captured by some really bizarre duo. Tomoya had never really been into gaming in general, so he only knew Pikachu. Of course, his hermit-like attitude towards life gave him ample opportunity to pick it up, but more than anything the game just didn't appeal to him. The small, cute animals only reminding him of the cursed boar that had led him to many public embarrassments.

"Puhi, puhi!"

Yes, that was the noise it had made. The unnerving sense of something wrong. He could hear it now, even all these years later.

"Puhi, puhi!"

What was up with those seven 'talents' it had anyway? Were they hardwired into the poor thing? He was almost curious enough to learn how Kyou had taught it, but he worried that she'd somehow violated the Geneva Convention at some point in said teaching.

"Puhi, puhiiii!"

It really did whine a lot too, and for some reason, the voice seemed to be getting louder in his head. Why did he have such a clear memory of the odd boar? Maybe it had left some kind of emotional impact on him after all? He shook his head. No, that's impossible. Then what was it? If it wasn't his memory then...

"...Gofuuuu!"

A cold chill seemed to run down his spine as he turned around to see Botan, now much, much larger than he'd envisioned it being in his begging for his attention.

"Ahhhh!"

He nearly jumped out of his cushion, but instead just kind of fell backward. He assumed Ushio would have a similar reaction, but she stood up calmly while... smiling?

"Hi, Nabe!"

Nabe? Botan nabe? Maybe Ushio was more clever than he gave her credit for.

Before he could think about the boar any longer, however, the purple-haired woman who claimed ownership to it came waltzing through the door, sweating.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I missed your texts..."

Tomoya looked slightly confused, "I mean, that's fine, I just assumed you were sleeping..." he gave her a questioning glance, "but why didn't you just text me when you saw them? I was actually decently concerned."

"Ah, well," Kyou's mind scrambled for an answer before settling on the cliche, "my woman's intuition told me you'd rather be surprised by my good ol Botan, aren't you surprised?"

"Well, I guess I was a bit surprised..." Tomoya scratched the back of his head, "I suppose I'll accept that excuse."

Kyou let out half a sigh of relief before the implication of his last word fully hit her, she froze up, "I-It's not an excuse!"

Ushio looked up at her with genuine concern on her face, "Ms. Fujibayashi... it isn't good to be a liar."

Cornered, Kyou finally threw her hands up in defeat, "Fine, fine. I didn't test you because I'm a forgetful klutz that might end up forgetting she even lives in this city halfway through the vacation. Happy?"

Tomoya smiled, "Very much so. Now sit down and watch TV with us. Botan can sit next to you."

She took the invitation without a second thought, Botan getting into her lap, "Botan, doll!"

"Gofu-!"

The repressed memories released all at once, "You still make him do that labor!?"

Kyou wagged her finger, "Nuh uh uh, these are tricks, remember? One of his seven wonderful tricks."

"Right..." Tomoya couldn't help smiling as he heard Ushio let out a small giggle, "anyways, what brings him here? Surely you aren't planning on-"

"Bringing him? I most certainly am! He's already been on a few train rides in his life- when I go to visit my sister and such- so he'll be fine! Right, Botan?"

No response.

"Oh right, I dolled him..."

"Getting less smooth in your older years?"

Kyou's death glare was sharp enough to pierce the heavens, "First off, I'm still way more smooth than you've ever been. Second off... I'M NOT OLD!"

The sudden explosion immediately had Tomoya backtracking, "Alright alright alright! You're very young and beautiful, really! You'll find a great man and all that cool stuff!"

Kyou smiled, "Thank you~"

But Tomoya wasn't done, he snickered, "...But I do recall a certain time, when the two of us were alone together, that you were a lot less than smooth."

Kyou's smile turned into a furious blush as she began stammering, "D-Don't bring that up! Your daughter's here!"

"What about this would be inappropriate for Ushio to hear? Nothing happened."

She grew even more flustered, "I-I was naive! A kid, yes, a kid! It was a once in a lifetime thing! You just caught me off guard!"

Tomoya let out a boisterous laugh watching Kyou try to save herself, and turned to Ushio, "Take care of Ms. Fujibayashi, please?"

Ushio smiled, "Of course."

Kyou let out a sigh before submitting herself to the will of the television.

They passed the time like this for the next for hours, chatting amongst themselves while the television became nothing more than background noise to their conversation. There was no doubt in Tomoya's mind that Kyou would be proven right- Ushio seemed much more comfortable with her around than she'd been earlier.

As the time for their train neared, Tomoya turned off the television, "Alright, you two. The train will reach the central station in just about half an hour, so we better get going."

The two in question, Kyou and Ushio, had been talking about her work on the class' latest writing assignment when the television turned off. Kyou checked her phone, "Wow, you're right. Time flies when you're not worrying about it..." Kyou momentarily despaired over the fleeting day before returning to her typical self, "In that case, we don't have any time to waste. Let's go, Ushio!"

"Let's go," Ushio said with mild enthusiasm.

They carried this mild enthusiasm with them as they made their way to the station. They walked in silenced and were about a quarter of the way there before it was broken by Kyou.

"Hey Tomoya," she began, "where exactly are we going?"

"Let me see..." Tomoya looked at the name on the ticket- vaguely familiar, he'd probably heard it somewhere before but felt he'd never been there. "No idea, but I've heard of the place and we do have living arrangements in place for while we're there, so there's nothing to worry about."

Ushio nudged her elbow into Tomoya's leg.

"What is it, Ushio? Want the ticket?"

She nodded, and thus her wish was granted. She read the name slowly to herself before smiling, "..Pretty."

"Pretty?"

"I've seen it before, it's pretty." She held the ticket up to Tomoya, obliging him to take it back.

Kyou quipped in, "Well, Ushio, thank you for being our local vacation scout!"

Ushio seemed to blush, "Y-You're welcome..."

At that moment, an old lady's face lit up just ahead of them, running up to the trio, "Okazaki! It's been forever since I've last seen you."

"Matsuzaki... you were one of the teachers at Hikarizaka, right?"

"Only the one that lectured you all those times!" She gave a cheeky smile, "I'm happy to see you've grown up well at least..."

"Uh, yeah, sorry for being such a mess back then."

"It's fine. If kids like you didn't need help I'd never have gotten a job." She chuckled, looking down at Ushio, "this is the Furukawa's granddaughter, right?"

Tomoya nodded, "Yeah... my daughter."

The teacher smiled for a moment before her face dimmed, "Ah... I heard about Nagisa, she was a good kid... if she married you, then I'm sure you're more than capable of taking care of the little one."

Tomoya tried to keep his temper. He knew she meant no harm by it, but he often felt any mention of Nagisa was slander against her- as if anyone could ever understand the love they shared. How could they? They weren't there, from the outside looking in it must look like-

"Ah, Fujibayashi! Are you Tomoya's girlfriend?"

Tomoya calmed down, chuckling despite his momentary wrath, "No, she's just-"

Kyou, on the other hand, seemed frantic, her face red, "No! No no no no no! We, uh well, you see, I'm Ushio's teacher and Tomoya's uh... uhh..." she racked her brain in an almost violent manner, "ON THE PTA! Yes, the PTA. And we're doing PTA stuff for the school! So please don't get the wrong idea, alright?" She attempted to smile and laugh as well, in a way that was comedically unnatural, "Alriiight? Thank youuu. Haha, have a nice day!" She hurried the three of them ahead, leaving a laughing former teacher behind.

Tomoya couldn't help but find the scene funny either, bringing them to a stop so he could catch his breath, "What was that about? That disgusted by the idea?"

Kyou nodded confidently, "Mhm. I will never, ever, date someone as lame as you. I hope that makes it clear."

Ushio frowned, "I think Dad's cool."

"Yes yes, well we all think highly of our parents when we're little, but one day you'll realize he's the lamest Dad possible."

Tomoya took mock offense to that, "Hey, I'm trying my best!"

"Sure, sure."

With Kyou having successfully saved face, they walked the rest of the way to the train station. Tomoya was, admittedly, still confused by how adamant Kyou had been. He figured she'd always gone crazy at the mention of love, however, and dropped it for now. Besides, this vacation was for Ushio, and he needed to do all he could to make her happy.

They reached the station a few minutes before the train arrived, so Tomoya- at Kyou's begrudging- got soda for the three of them. It was enough to quell their thirst and pass the time, as Ushio topped hers off as the train's doors opened up. They got up and walked into the train with minor inconvenience, some more time-pressed people likely taking the train to work slightly bumped against them. Tomoya eventually found a seat and the three of them sat down with Tomoya by the window, Kyou at the center and Ushio in between them. Tomoya took the opportunity to lose himself in thought as the train took off, peering at the scenery as it flew by. He couldn't recall a time he'd ever taken a train anywhere. It wasn't as if the station hadn't been there- though it had admittedly been much smaller up until recently- it was that he had nowhere to go. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited.

His excitement wouldn't last long, however, as a kid in the seat next to them let out a droning whine of increasing pitch. He felt himself grimace and decided he should focus his mind elsewhere, turning to Kyou, who had Botan in 'plush' mode in her lap. Wasn't he way too big for that? "What are the two of you doing?"

Kyou wore a gentle smile while answering, "I was going over the how to spell animal names with Ushio." Her smile looked down at his daughter, "Repeat what you just said for me, please?"

Ushio nodded confidently, though she scratched her head while answering," C... O... and... uh- W."

Kyou quietly clapped, "You got it! Your daughter's already smarter than you, Tomoya," she gave him a smug look, "how do you feel about that?"

Tomoya sighed, "Pretty impressed, hones-"

The droning whine of the kid pierced his ears again, and something inside him snapped, "Tell your kid to BE, QUIET! People are trying to relax!"

To his credit, the kid went mum almost immediately as his mother solemnly nodded, "O-Of course, sorry about that..."

"Damnit..." Tomoya calmed down and focused back on the two of them, only to find that the smaller of the two had disappeared, leaving Kyou looking at him with an annoyed, trying not to be furious expression. It kind of irked him, "Why are you giving me that look? Where's Ushio?"

"You scared her off, idiot." Kyou's voice had none of its typical cheekiness, the tone was almost scolding him instead.

Tomoya thought back on it- yeah, he could see why that would scare her. He mentally kicked himself and got out of his seat, "Uh, sorry about that. I'll go get-"

He was stopped by Kyou's hand placed firmly on his chest, "She probably ran inside a bathroom or something, so I'll go get her. You just stay here and focus on feeling better yourself. Relax, alright?"

"Alright..."

"Good boy."

Kyou walked off after Ushio, leaving Tomoya alone with his thoughts. He gave the kid who had been hollering just a moment ago a glance and found him holding back tears while hugging his mother. He knew that the kid was probably just extra emotional due to the shock of being yelled at by someone else, but knowing he'd made someone's kid feel that way ate away at him. Why could he be such an ass? Nagisa- the only source of stability in his life- had managed to calm him down, but without her, there was nothing stopping him from falling back into his old, lifeless ways. That was how he'd spent the last five years of his life. Could he really take care of their daughter without her?

"...What should I do..?"

He felt a sharp pain in his head as the wound suddenly reopened itself. He knew that if he thought about it anymore he would end up wanting to cry, so he stopped there; he instead focused back out the window and let his mind wander on the sights.

After a few minutes that seemed to last an eternity, Kyou returned with Ushio in hand, sitting back down in their seats.

Tomoya felt obligated to talk to Ushio, "Are you... feeling okay?"

She hardly moved, her features had clouded over.

Kyou answered for her, "She'll tell you when she's ready, alright? Just give her time."

By the way she said it, Tomoya was able to pick up that now wasn't the time to ask, and like that, the rest of the train ride passed silently. A small sense of guilt and remorse slowly washed over him, still hurting when they finally made it to their stop. They left the station shortly after, and the unmistakable feeling of familiarity festered in the back of his mind as he took note of his immediate surroundings- which featured long stretching fields, spread out greenery, and rural housing units. He'd spent his entire life in Hikarizaka, of course, but in a way, this place felt more familiar to him than the place he called home.

He shook off the feeling, noticing the confused stare of Kyou and turning to her, "Sorry, I was just wondering where I'd seen this place before."

Kyou looked around, her arms naturally crossed, "This does seem like the type of place that would end up in a brochure. You said Sanae bought the tickets, so that's probably where she saw it." She nodded, satisfied with her explanation, before taking notice of an antsy Ushio, "Anyway, we should get moving, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I already read about where we're staying- not the town of course, the building. There's only one room, so I brought some spare cash to buy a kotatsu."

"Good thinking" she flashed a large from and took a similar amount of cash out of her pocket, "great minds think alike, don't they?"

Tomoya snickered, "I'd hardly call myself a great mind, but if you want to say we're on the same level go ahead."

Ushio seemed to smile a little watching the banter, but an unspoken uneasiness still hung in the air. They all went relatively quiet for a while after that, not in the mood for anything outside of occasional small talk.

The vibe carried all the way to their room, outside of interactions with staff, until it was finally broken when Kyou collapsed down onto her bed, yawning loudly, "Oh my god, my legs are killing me! I haven't walked this much since I dragged you and Ryou everywhere back in high school."

"Aren't you a kindergarten teacher?"

"Well, yeah. But there's a difference between walking around a room and walking around a city."

"That's true."

Ushio gave a small tug on Tomoya's shirt, "I want to look around."

"I'm getting pretty tired Ushio, you should be getting to bed too."

She frowned, giving the closest thing she could to an annoyed expression, "I want to look around now."

Tomoya was taken aback, "Woah, I wasn't expecting you to be so adamant on this. Guess your teacher's rubbing off on you."

Ushio shook her head, "Ms. Fujibayashi is very nice."

The woman in question quipped into the conversation, "Remind me to give you an A if you ever can't finish your assignment, you've earned it." She giggled at her joke before continuing, "Anyway, why not just walk her around Tomoya? She probably just needs to find the bathroom."

Ushio blushed a little, Kyou was right on the mark. Tomoya gave her a noogie before responding, "Hey, that's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'd have to find it sooner or later anyway." He squatted down to her level, "Let's go."

Ushio nodded, her face still red, and the two of them went off to find the bathroom. The place itself was a lot more traditionally Japanese than any house in Hikarizaka. Of course, that's not to say certain structures weren't still widely used, but the whole feel of the place was a lot more authentic than he was used to. Even so, the odd feeling of familiarity from earlier still stuck with him as they made it to the bathroom- which Ushio did have to use- leaving him alone with his thoughts. The tension of earlier had cooled considerably, but would things really go as well as he wanted them to? This was the first time he'd ever dedicated time to his daughter. Sure, Kyou may be able to help, but there's no reason to believe she'd be the difference in whether or not he and his daughter could do more than just get along. He had to put all his effort into her this week- and he had to be willing to accept that all his effort may be futile.


End file.
